Silver Lake hires new village attorney

silver-lake-VHThe Silver Lake Village Board on Wednesday hired a new village attorney — and put him to work right away.

Robert W. Mulcahy of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP is the new village attorney. He replaces Linda Gray of Oleniczak & Gray, LLC.

The board decided to seek a new attorney because “there were just some matters we didn’t feel we were getting the best direction on,” village President Sue Gerber said after the meeting.

Mulcahy was present at the meeting and was put to work right away. Gerber asked Mulcahy to address comments from former village President Jeff Albrecht at the beginning of the meeting that contended a closed session on the agenda for later in the meeting were not proper according to open meetings law.

Albrecht contended that the items appeared to be too broad to trigger a closed session unless they pertain to an specific, named individual. On the agenda they were listed as:

Proposed amendments to: Ordinance 490 Purchasing Policy for the Village of Silver Lake, Village of Silver Lake Administration Guidelines, Employee Benefits, Policies and Procedures relating to Chapter V Other Benefits, 5.2 Insurance, 5.4 Work Schedules and 5.5 Flex Time and Chapter VI Payroll, 6.1 Overtime.”

Mulcahy defended the items as appropriate for closed session because they could effect future negotiations with unions and employees.

“I am very confident in my opinion on this …,” Mulcahy said. “I am recommending you use that option to have a free and open discussion … The public will have plenty of opportunity to see what the result is.”

Trustees Patrick Dunn and Michael Decker said they also did not think the closed session was necessary.

The village has budgeted $16,000 in 2015 for attorney fees, village officials said Monday (Note: The final proposed 2015 budget on the village website says $13,000. — DH). This includes the village prosecutor who works in municipal court. The prosecutor post will not change. In 2014, the budget for attorney fees was $13,000.

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6 Comments

  1. SL Goverment Gone Wild says:

    What has the Silver Lake Village board done that has caused us to hire this high powered attorney. Answer is their management style. Pick an area. Police, Fire, EMS, DPW and more. All areas are in trouble. The majority of people in town see it now. They voted for change and did not make the 2/3 vote. But a clear majority of voters are against them. Recall, dissolve get rid of them.

  2. Bruce Francart says:

    Robert W. Mulcahy of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP really showed he knows government policy, and is very upfront. Did not seem to take sides, and in fact stood up for the citizens by saying more or less, you will see what it was about immediately after the closed session. Heard and was given the opportunity to get a copy of what was changed. This attorney works for all, and we need to make sure it stays that way.

  3. Bernard Punsley says:

    I think one of the first issues our new attorney should look into is the library purchase…..right now, it appears we are going to be “on the hook” for $250,000! Maybe Andy could renovate it for us for free? That would help a little bit. Get the firemen to help him out as well.

  4. Business As Usual says:

    Perhaps our new village attorney could review the $50,000 “bid process” that took place to renovate our new library building. He might have to look REAL HARD to find one!!!! Was there a “Request for Proposal” drawn up by the village board for prospective contractors to bid on? Well, WAS THERE?!

  5. MERISSA says:

    please leave this village alone you don’t like it here you can leave and move out i love the police officers i love the rescue squad i like the fire department and having an old town look is awesome leave this village alone please move out of here if you don’t like silver lake

  6. SL Goverment Gone Wild says:

    Merissa put your head in the sand and fake like everything is ok. It is not. It must be fixed to move on.

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